A Letter From Pastor Phillip Short
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Most of us have heard that there is a tension that is present on the denominational level of the United Methodist Church. That tension is about the source of authority. What is the reliable source of authority of Christian teaching, of right and wrong, orthodox or unorthodox, in-bounds or out-of-bounds? Orthodox churches go to scripture for their authority. Some will say that the tension in the UMC is the definition of marriage and expectations around ordination. I would say that these are the “presenting issues” in a question that is as old as scripture and Eden itself: “By what authority? Did God really say?” The tension in the UMC today is the question of where we derive our authority.
The United Methodist Church was formed in 1968. It formed a “Book of Discipline” that contained the rules of the church. It agreed to meet every 4 years as a General Conference and reaffirm the teachings of the church. At the UMC’s first General Conference there were motions to redefine marriage and ordination standards. Those motions were defeated. They have reappeared at every General Conference ever since. They were defeated and the church’s teachings remained in place. A special called General Conference took place in 2019 to meet only on this issue. It was defeated again. But some pastors, churches, boards of Ordained Ministry, bishops, and even annual conferences decided to ignore the General Conference’s decision. The UMC has been in chaos on these issues ever since.
In January 2020, a special meeting was called by, among others, Bishop Ken Carter; the bishop of the Florida Annual Conference of the UMC. It called together members of advocacy groups that were both progressive and traditionalist. They all acknowledged the impasse, stalemate, distraction, hurt, and pain that was present over these issues. With the help of a well-known arbitrator, this group came up with a recommendation that the United Methodist Church have a parting of the ways. They essentially came up with a motion that would allow progressives to keep the United Methodist Church. They also agreed that traditionalist churches would be allowed to depart from the United Methodist Church and take their property and assets with them without penalty. Churches that opt to remain traditional in their constitution would be required to join another Methodist denomination. Their document is called: “The Protocol of Grace and Reconciliation through Separation.” It is referred to as “The Protocol.”
Traditional-minded Methodists began working on building a new, traditional Methodist denomination almost immediately. They have named themselves “The Global Methodist Church.” It is much like the UMC in its pre-2019 form, with some simplifications in its Discipline. But this is all very complicated. This “protocol” was simply a motion. It would need approval from the General Conference, which was scheduled to meet in 2020. But Covid disallowed GC, and it was moved to 2021. Then Covid disallowed the 2021 GC and it got rescheduled to 2022. The committee that decides such things announced this past week that it has now rescheduled GC to 2024.
This prolongs a season of uncertainty. And the protocol is just a motion. Once a GC sits down to work with it, it may look completely different on the other side of the plenary sessions. Amendments will probably take place. And even then, there is the chance that a GC would table it until yet another 4 years pass and a different set of delegates passes it at yet another GC. To complicate issues, even more, the Global Methodist Church, on the heels of the postponement of GC 2022 announced that they are coming into existence on May 1. This caught me by surprise. I thought that this was at least a year to a few years from coming to our doorstep.
What does this mean to us at Southside? The day will come when we will need to figure out where we best fit. We ought to consider what the post-separation UMC would look like. It is somewhat easy to consider this because Southside has been UM since 1968. But we need to keep in mind that the post-separation UMC is going to have a different makeup, especially if traditional Methodists are no longer present to provide a balance or a healthy tension. Southside UMC also owes it to itself to consider what the Global Methodist Church offers and to consider whether or not this will be a good fit. In the future, I hope to have a representative from the Florida Annual Conference to speak of the possible fit of the post-separation UMC. I also hope to have a representative from the Global Methodist Church come and make a case. Eventually, when the church has studied up on the issue, we will have a congregation-wide vote on what will be the best fit.
The culture is consumed by this conversation. It will tell us that we either have to be full of love, support, and approval or full of hate. I am convinced that there is a middle ground that will welcome everyone, not in the name of inculcating sexual preferences, but introducing anyone with what Jesus called “ears to hear” with the gospel, life-transforming message of Christ. We are a church that believes in learning, loving, and living Christ. We need to fix our gaze on Christ. We don’t have to, we get to. We can minimize division and keep the main thing the main thing if we do this. These issues were around long before the formation of the UMC. They were present in the church in Corinth when Paul brought the Gospel of Christ to them. He wrote to them: “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). This is the purpose of the church. Let’s not take our eyes off of the ball or get distracted from this holy purpose.
Let’s also please remember that we are talking about real people with hearts and souls and stories of their very own. They are loved by Jesus. In our discussions and in our debates let’s keep this in mind. Gay friends and relatives have a diversity of approaches on these issues, and they are unfortunately a rope in a tug-of-war in our cultural rifts. Most did not ask to be put in this position, and for the most part, they simply want to be left alone. And lastly, pray. Pray for the unity and protection of the church and resolve to be part of the solution. If you ever have any conversation about this with anyone, either in agreement or disagreement, please end it with prayer for the Christ-centered focus of the church.
I vow to keep you informed as information comes available.
Peace,
Rev. Phillip Short
Southside United Methodist Church
